Pilots urging Chicago boycott

Group incensed by nighttime raid

The seemingly local issue of closing Meigs Field is becoming a national one as a well-connected pilots group strives to use its clout to force Mayor Richard Daley to reopen the downtown airport.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, with nearly 400,000 members, is lobbying the FAA to take action and plans to file a lawsuit as early as Monday in federal court that seeks to compel the reopening of the 55-year-old airstrip.

The national group's potential federal litigation follows legal activity already challenging the airport's closure. On Friday, a Cook County judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the city from doing any additional demolition work to the airport.

The pilots association has also asked its members to boycott Chicago by encouraging their business and trade groups to hold conventions elsewhere and avoid commercial flights that land in the city. Additionally, it plans to take out advertisements in Chicago newspapers criticizing Daley's nighttime destruction of the airport's runway a week ago.

"Our members are just incensed," said Phil Boyer, the group's president. "The airport is used like part of an international highway system. It's used by people from surrounding states."

Boyer said his group estimates it would cost $500,000 to repair the damaged runway.

Daley ordered the destruction, citing concerns that a small-plane pilot could use the airport to launch a terrorist attack on the city's downtown. The mayor has also said he's interested in building a park there.

On Friday, Judge William Maki ordered the city to preserve the taxiway, terminal building and other components that make up the downtown airstrip until he hears arguments on whether Daley acted legally when he ordered the nighttime destruction of the field's runway earlier this week.

The judge's decision followed the filing of a lawsuit by an advocacy group, Friends of Meigs, and other interested parties seeking to force the reopening of the airport.

"It's a first step," Steve Whitney, a Friends of Meigs leader, said after leaving the courtroom. "We are pretty thrilled the judge is going to take a look at this and give us our day in court."

But the victory could prove short-lived.

While the judge ordered no demolition until at least after a May 16 hearing, city lawyers said they plan to file a motion to dismiss the case as early as Monday. "When the full story is set out ... the city's position will be held up in its entirety," said Michael Forti, a lawyer for the city.

Friends of Meigs alleges the city violated the state's open meetings law by making a significant public policy decision behind closed doors. It also alleges the city violated a state law by making alterations to a runway without first getting approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

An IDOT spokesman has said the law only deals with changes to runways that would affect safety at an operating airport and the law is not intended to force unwilling airport operators to stay in business.

Friends of Meigs has also suggested that the skies will be less safe with the airport and its control tower closed.

The group pointed to an incident Wednesday where it contends two aircraft avoided a collision south of the airport only because of an air traffic controller's presence at Meigs.

Whitney said the planes were within a "couple hundred feet" of each other, traveling at about 300 m.p.h.

City officials have indicated they plan to close the control tower by May 1, but they said Friday that it wouldn't happen until arrangements have been made to have the downtown airspace handled by another air-traffic control center.

"We're talking to the FAA about ways that the airspace can be monitored more closely," said Larry Langford, a spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. "We also intend to speak to FAA people and others concerning the possibility of remote operation to cover the downtown airspace."

Langford said it's possible a regional FAA control center in Elgin could handle the traffic, although radar and radio signals might have to be relayed there from downtown.

Whitney said he's not aware of any such configuration in the nation, and he doubts it would keep the often-busy airspace along the lakeshore safe.